Drones in Engineering and Construction

Discover the applications of these unmanned aircraft in the engineering and construction industries.

Overview

The engineering and construction industries are based on the human relationships between many project stakeholders to achieve delivery excellence.

Enhanced processes and digital tools cannot replace people, either as individuals or teams, but they are required to increase quality, reduce costs, mitigate safety risks and improve decision-making.

Drones, more accurately described in a business context as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), present increasingly attractive opportunities for achieving these goals.

Clearly, UAVs now offer a high level of automation enabling operators to reach previously inaccessible areas, while capturing a large amount of data very quickly. However, this is not their only use.

Accenture Consulting studied all possible applications of these unmanned aircraft in the engineering and construction industries, and the risks and opportunities they can bring.

So what does it take to turn them into value delivered?

BACKGROUND

UAVs can take different forms, with different levels of controls and the capacity to carry a very wide range of payloads: there are many types supporting different uses, but they are also subject to different regulations, depending on whether the aircraft is in or beyond the field of vision. They are built with intelligent stabilization systems to keep them flying and can carry sensors to perform dedicated functions. One of the most common devices is a camera mounted on gimbals to obtain high-quality video and still photography.

However, depending on their lift capacity and payload specifications, UAVs can also carry multiple sensors to extract a wide range of information, increasing the number of possible applications and the business value of their outcomes.

KEY FINDINGS

What value will UAVs bring to engineering and construction businesses?

No longer limited to commercial activities, UAVs now demonstrate numerous possibilities to add business value. Potential business applications are wide ranging and they offer disruptive opportunities for companies in the engineering and construction industries. They can dramatically extend human operations by enabling remote sensoring as well as actuation and predictive capabilities. Such capabilities offer key benefits such as cost reduction, risk mitigation and quality improvements, thereby bringing a competitive advantage to their adopters.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Our recommendations to get the best out of UAVs in the engineering and construction industries

Companies have to reinvent business processes to fully leveraging UAVs

To take full advantage of UAVs, companies should reinvent business processes rather than attempting to integrate them into existing operations, because UAVs change the role of current employees (e.g., field operators, analysts, IT operations…) as well as data, IT infrastructure and operations. They should be seen as complementary to the company ecosystem and their use should address specific operations supported by a tangible business case.

Our recommendations to get the best out of UAVs in the engineering and construction industries

UAVs are a means, the value is in the data and in knowing how to integrate it

UAVs and their sensors will bring a huge amount of data to global companies, multiplying capabilities and applications within a company’s business processes.

The analysis of the data will significantly improve operational intelligence and preventative or predictive
maintenance. For this reason, companies will need a data management platform to capture, process and analyze incoming data to identify notable events and create reports. Integrating this data into core business processes will enable the increase of automation in multiple business processes.

Our recommendations to get the best out of UAVs in the engineering and construction industries

A global UAV strategy to enable each project to create business value

Many organizations intend to leverage UAVs in multiple geographies. Although we encourage enterprises to prepare for such global deployments, these plans will have to be adjusted to accommodate local guidelines and regulations, which vary dramatically based on jurisdiction.

Moreover, enterprises must be aware of the potential risks unmanned aircraft can bring and take steps to mitigate them. The safe operation of UAVs within civil airspace will also be dependent upon reliable mechanical and navigational systems, as well as repeatable operational processes and training.

Hardware, infrastructure and operational areas should be addressed. In order to bring consistency, we encourage engineering and construction companies to develop a capability to ensure the best integration of UAVs into their business.

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Support local initiatives with global expertise

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Maintain a permanent technological survey

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Follow up evolution of local regulations

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Define mission guidelines to support standardization

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Coordinate the impact on the company’s different departments

Our recommendations to get the best out of UAVs in the engineering and construction industries

Finding the right partners is key to supporting the global strategy

The UAV market is dynamic. The number of start-ups created continues to grow and investors are increasingly interested. There was more funding raised in the first five months of 2016 than in the past three years!

This list is not exhaustive and some start-ups cover several services. To integrate UAVs into their businesses successfully, engineering and construction companies should draw up a roadmap aligned with their strategy, targeting the different alliances and phases of the transformation.

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